How I Have Used Literary Adventures for Kids
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A few years ago I stumbled across the Literary Adventures for Kids curriculum. I am so glad I did! These products have been an excellent addition to my homeschool. The courses I used helped take some of the planning and teaching responsibility off my shoulders.
I didn’t find Literary Adventures for Kids until my oldest child was in high school. I wish I had found it sooner! There are so many great elementary and middle school options available. Scroll down to see a few options that I think look fantastic.
How I Have Used Literary Adventures for Kids
Poetry and a Movie
The first course we tried from Literary Adventures for Kids was the Poetry and a Movie curriculum. We started using it in the fall of 2019 as part of our homeschool co-op. Students worked through the course on the Teachable site each week and then met with the group to discuss the poems and poets.
By spring, current events required that our co-op stop meeting, and we transitioned to working through the course independently. Honestly, I was a little worried about this transition.
I don’t remember spending much time on poetry when I was in high school, so unexpectedly needing to teach the course added a little bit of stress to an already stressful time.
Thankfully, my fears were unwarranted.
Literary Adventures for Kids makes it easy for parents. The online program is self-paced so my daughter logged in each week and worked independently through each section one at a time. She read poems, learned about famous poets, and practiced finding literary elements.
The only things I needed to do were make sure the literary elements were notated correctly (don’t worry, there is an answer guide) and put together a poetry teatime for each poet. Poetry teatimes only required reserving a poetry compilation or two and adding a few fun treats to the grocery list.
Psychology
My daughter wanted to take a Psychology course as one of her high school electives so I was pretty excited when I saw this 0.5 credit offered. I can be pretty picky about the curriculum for my kids and this was no exception. I majored in Psychology in college, so I had high standards for a Psychology curriculum. This course covered everything that I was looking for in a relaxed manner.
Topics included:
- Psychological findings & ethics
- States of consciousness
- Conditioning
- Thinking & Intelligence
- Lifespan development
- Motivation
- Social influence
- Stress
- Psychological disorders
- Therapy & treatment
Psychology is a broad science so there is no way to cover every topic, but I felt like this was a really good overview.
This curriculum was totally hands-off for me as a parent. My daughter logged in to the website and just did the next lesson. Lessons typically included reading a section from a free online textbook, watching videos, and taking comprehension quizzes. I enjoyed discussing everything with her, but that was totally optional.
Poetry Teatimes
I love hosting poetry teatimes for my kids and their friends, but sometimes I don’t have time to plan anything.
Last year I purchased the Poetry Teatime – Holiday Edition course from Literary Adventures for Kids. It was well worth the money! I was able to put together great themed teatimes with only a few minutes of prep time.
Every month, my daughter had a friend over. We read and discussed poetry, sipped tea, and snacked on simple treats. It was a fun social/language arts activity.
The poetry themes included:
- Winter
- Valentine’s Day
- St. Patrick’s Day
- Springtime
- Mother’s Day
- Father’s Day
- Summer
- Back-To-School
- Fall
- Halloween
- Thanksgiving
- Christmas
Could I have put together poetry teatimes for these topics? Sure, but it was so much easier and faster to just use the Poetry Teatime Holiday Edition plan.
Other Ways to Use Literary Adventures for Kids
Literary Adventures for Kids has something for just about everyone, elementary – high school. The book clubs are a great way to get kids interested in different books and the high school courses are an excellent way to earn high school credit.
Here are a few options, in addition to the courses mentioned above. Be sure to check out the Literary Adventures for Kids site to see a complete list. New courses are being added all the time!
Elementary
Book clubs for specific books – The elementary book clubs tend to have a nature or seasonal focus. They also tend to be a little shorter than the book clubs for older kids, making them a great option for shorter attention spans. Kids learn vocabulary while following educational rabbit trails to keep things interesting.
Some of my favorites are:
Book club bundles – Book club bundles are a way to save money on the book clubs. They are also bundled together, which can help prevent decision fatigue – just do the next book in the set. Bundles include:
- Elementary year 1 (years 2, 3, 4, and 5 are also available)
- Winter nature
Middle School
Literary Adventures Clubhouse – The Clubhouse membership is perfect for elementary and middle school families who want access to all of the individual book clubs. There are currently nearly 100 book clubs available! This is a great option for families because the kids can each work through whichever titles they find interesting.
Book clubs for specific books – The middle school book clubs are similar to the elementary book clubs, just with longer books. This can be a fun way to ease into chapter books.
Some of the book clubs include:
World Literature Series – The world literature series is available as a semester course or as a full-year course. The semester course includes 4 titles and the full-year course includes 9 titles. Each title is designed to take about a month to complete and includes literature study, grammar, and a writing project.
High School
Society of Literary Adventures – The Society is a membership program that gives parents access to ALL of the high school language arts courses. This is a great option if you have multiple high school students. There are enough course options that students can earn all of their high school language arts credits through Literary Adventures for Kids.
Related: Complete High School Language Arts Curriculum
Shakespeare – The Shakespeare book club covers 4 well-known plays:
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream
- Twelfth Night
- Romeo and Juliet
- Macbeth
This course is well laid-out so students will know exactly what to do each day. Lessons include reading, watching, writing, questions to ponder, magic dust, and rabbit trails.
Individual book clubs – Individual book clubs are a great option if you want to personally select all of the books on your student’s reading list. They can be used along with other resources or combined to create a personalized literature course.
Some of the high school titles include:
- The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (part of the Hunger Games series)
- The Book Thief
- Animal Farm
World Literature – This year-long course contains everything needed to earn a high school literature credit. Over the year, students will read 10 novels. Those novels, paired with the self-paced online instruction, teach literary elements, grammar, and vocabulary. There are also writing projects.
British Classic Literature – British classic literature is another full-year high school course worth one high school credit. This curriculum includes 10 novels, one for each month of school. Students will learn grammar, vocabulary, and literary elements all while reading the selected books.
American Classic Literature – American literature is similar to the world literature and British literature courses. It takes one school year to complete and is worth one high school literature/language arts credit.
Study of Japan – This study of Japan course is the first of hopefully many Literary Adventures for Kids history courses. The program is designed to take one school year and is worth one high school history credit. It covers history (of course), as well as folktales, geography, biographies, and vocabulary.
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